2017 Compassionate Communities Conference: We Choose All of Us

Originally Posted February 20, 2018Share:

Over 650 people came together for the Idaho Coalition Against Sexual & Domestic Violence’s Compassionate Communities: We Choose All of Us, a two-day conference on Tuesday, November 28 – Wednesday, November 29 at Boise, Idaho. We are among millions of people in our country who are choosing one another, knowing in this moment the forces of fear, hate, and violence have become more visible and empowered. We Choose All of Us is a (r)evolution for humanity, a time to plant and nurture the seed that reconnects us to us.

Together, we envisioned a world where everyone is valued, everyone is safe, and everyone can thrive. We Choose All of Us was generative space where explored ways to repair the harm from our culture of domination, extraction, and violence, and re-imagined a world rooted in interdependence, resilience, and regeneration.

The conference featured a series of keynote speakers and panels, who shared pathways toward our vision as-well-as personal stories of adversity, healing and growth. “Our time together was about choosing the emergent worldview, a world where we choose all of us,” said Kelly Miller, Executive Director at the Idaho Coalition Against Sexual & Domestic Violence. “It is about choosing who we want to be right now.”

We are excited to be able to share the inspiring and powerful keynote speeches and panels via video:

Day 1: 2017 Compassionate Communities Conference

Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds– Plenary Opener

Opening plenary with adrienne maree brown, co-editor of Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction from Social Justice Movements and author of Emergent Strategy – Shaping Change, Changing Worlds. What does the natural world have to teach us about adaptation, decentralization, resilience, transformative justice, iteration, fractal selves, and creating more possibilities?

Day 2: 2017 Compassionate Communities Conference

Seeing the Racial Water

With Robin DiAngelo, PhD, Lecturer, University of Washington School of Social Work

What does it mean to be white in a society that proclaims race meaningless yet is deeply divided by race? Dr. DiAngelo describes the way race shapes the lives of White people, explains what makes racism so hard for White people to see, and identifies common White racial patterns that prevent us from moving towards greater racial equity. Weaving information, analysis, stories, images, and familiar examples, she provides the framework needed to develop white racial literacy.

Day 2: 2017 Compassionate Communities Conference

Restoring Wholeness, Our Spirit & Humanity

With Amita Swadhin, Founder & Director, Mirror Memoirs

This plenary addresses survivor leadership combined with an intersectional praxis as a strategy to advance anti-violence work and movements for social justice. Understand child sexual abuse as a root cause and a tool of oppression and violence and learn how to apply intersectionality as an approach to this work, and how and why to uplift the voices and leadership of survivors living at the intersections of oppression.

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